Tracking the baby boom, the baby bust, and the echo generations: How age composition regulates us migration

David Plane, Peter Rogerson

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

76 Scopus citations

Abstract

US regional and state migration data from the 1940s-80s, when members of the baby boom generation aged into their years of peak labor force mobility, suggest ways in which changing age composition regulates geographical mobility and interregional migration. Labor supply pressure plays a key role in the dynamics of the national migration system. A "delayed mobility" effect in the 1980s similar to the delayed fertility of the baby boom cohorts appears to be a result of the depressed rates of mobility experienced by members of this generation when they flooded regional labor markets with record numbers of entrants in the 1970s. Recent temporal shifts in age-specific volumes of interregional migration help predict the future pace of migration based upon the projected age distribution of the nation. Key Words: migration, geographic mobility, age composition, baby boom.

Original languageEnglish (US)
Pages (from-to)416-430
Number of pages15
JournalProfessional Geographer
Volume43
Issue number4
DOIs
StatePublished - Nov 1991

ASJC Scopus subject areas

  • Geography, Planning and Development
  • Earth-Surface Processes

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